Religious Baroque Specifics

Allegri Missa Vidi turbam magnam date

Allegri Missa Vidi turbam magnam date

1640s

Allegri Missa Vidi turbam magnam

avoidance of harmonic tritones

F natural b.3 bass

Allegri Missa Vidi turbam magnam

overlapping entries

b.4 alto with end of prev phrase

Allegri Missa Vidi turbam magnam

PSR dissonances

b.18 alto G over chord change = 4-3 sus

Allegri Missa Vidi turbam magnam

Syncopation

alto b.21

Monteverdi Vespers date

1610

Monteverdi Vespers

1st sops enter with cantus firmus

‘Sancta Maria Ora Pro Nobis’ b.36

Gabrieli In Ecclesiis date

1608

Gabrieli In Ecclesiis

change to triple time because of holy trinity

b.11

Gabrieli In Ecclesiis

Bb chord (bold)

b.104

Gabrieli In Ecclesiis

F to D chord change (false relation)

b.174-175

Gabrieli In Ecclesiis

metre change and syncopation

‘vivifica nos’ b.157

Monteverdi Vespers

reuses music from…

Monteverdi’s 1607 opera ‘Orfeo’

Monteverdi Vespers

freer treatment of dissonance

‘nigra sum’ b.40 bass E, vocal line F

Monteverdi Vespers

word painting

‘nigra sum’ b.27-31 ‘surge’ (arise) uses ascending scale

Monteverdi Vespers

new monodic style

simple continuo accompaniment in ‘nigra sum’

Bach Magnificat date

1723

Bach Magnificat

polyphonic

‘magnificat anima mea’

Bach Magnificat

chords reflect words

‘fecit potentiam’ b.28 stop on dim chord, b.29 aug chord reflect words ‘the conceit in the hearts of the proud’

Bach Magnificat

cantus firmus

‘suscepit israel’

Bach Magnificat

oboe d’amore obbligato

‘quia respexit’

Schütz St Matthew Passion date

1666

Schütz studied with…

Gabrieli and Monteverdi

Schütz St Matthew Passion

powerful dissonances

b.16 introitus tenor Eb above alto D

Schütz St Matthew Passion

repeats words at times of tension

‘Eli’ + ‘Mein Gott’ 3 times

Schütz St Matthew Passion

two tenors playing false witness

‘er hat gesagt’, they sing in canon a maj2 apart, tenor 1 begins a tone higher than tenor 2 but switches to a tone lower half way through

Bach St Matthew Passion date

1727

Bach St Matthew Passion

No.1

‘Kommt, ihr Tochter’

children sing a chorale melody in G major

Bach St Matthew Passion

No.33

‘So ist mein Jesus nun gefangen’

Palindromic tonal structure (Bm, Em, A, D, G, D, Am, Em, Bm)

two choruses split antiphonally at b.86 G section

Bach St Matthew Passion

No.47

‘Erbarme Dich’

descending basso continuo throughout aria reflect tears

Bach St Matthew Passion

No.72

‘Wenn ich einmal soll scheiden’

chorale is reharmonised to phrygian with more chromaticism, sung immediately after Christ’s death

Purcell ‘My Heart Is Inditing’

date

1685

Purcell ‘My Heart Is Inditing’

anthem type

verse anthem

Purcell ‘My Heart Is Inditing’

tonality

mixture of older mixolydian and new C major

Purcell ‘My Heart Is Inditing’

serious meaning of words

‘Hearken, O Daughter’ Queen should forget her family and think only of her duties to the King, shown in use of minor keys, chromaticism (b.319-320) and false relations

Purcell ‘Hear My Prayer, O Lord’

date

1682

Purcell ‘Hear My Prayer, O Lord’

interval motif

minor 3rd on ‘O Lord’

Purcell ‘Hear My Prayer, O Lord’

anthem type

full anthem

Purcell ‘O Sing Unto The Lord’

date

1688

Purcell ‘O Sing Unto The Lord’

anthem type

verse anthem

How does Purcell’s ‘O Sing Unto The Lord’ show triumph and certainty?

strings are homophonic at beginning, bass soloist starts solo with fourth intervals

Purcell ‘My Heart Is Inditing’

instrumentation

2 choirs, 8 soloists, strings and organ

Why was Purcell’s ‘My Heart Is Inditing’ composed?

to celebrate the coronation of James II

Purcell ‘My Heart Is Inditing’

cadence that had fallen out of fashion in early 17th century

English cadence b.98

Purcell ‘My Heart Is Inditing’

word painting

‘At His Right Hand’

‘glorious’ often in pairs and 3rds and 6ths (b.119)

‘wrought gold’ is melismatic (b.126)

Locke ‘Lord, let me know mine end’

anthem type

verse anthem

Locke ‘Lord, let me know mine end’

male solos

b.84 tenor

Locke ‘Lord, let me know mine end’

word painting

b.95 emphasis on ‘fretting’ from tied notes causing suspensions

b.75 melismatic ‘hope’

Lully ‘Domine salvum fac Regem’

date

1660-1680s

Lully ‘Domine salvum fac Regem’

instrumentation

three high voices and continuo

Lully ‘Domine salvum fac Regem’

when was it performed?

whenever Louis XIV attended mass at Versailles

Lully ‘Domine salvum fac Regem’

motet type

petit motet (less than 2 minutes)

Lully ‘Domine salvum fac Regem’

description

simple but melodic, syllabic setting, dotted rhythms

Rameau “Quam dilecta tabernacula”

date

1713

Rameau “Quam dilecta tabernacula”

motet type

grand motet

Rameau “Quam dilecta tabernacula”

grand motet features

starts with solo voice, multi-sectional (influence of Rameau’s opera writing), mix of lyrical sections and complex counterpoint

Rameau “Quam dilecta tabernacula”

instrumentation

SSATBB, 2 flutes, string ensemble, continuo

Handel’s Messiah

date

1742

Handel’s Messiah

orchestra

Oboes, bassoons, two trumpets, timpani, strings, continuo

Handel’s Messiah No.3

word painting

‘Ev’ry Valley’ b.25 ‘low’ sung to a low note

Handel’s Messiah No.1

in the style of a french overture, slow section with dotted rhythms followed by a faster fugal section. dominant pedals at separate points in both G major and E minor creates tension

Handel’s Messiah

secco recitative

‘Behold, a virgin shall conceive’ alto, sung with free rhythm dictated by accents of the words, accompaniment is simple and chordal, melody shows speech by using few pitches

Handel’s Messiah No.23

solemn mood

‘He was despised’, falling melody (‘a man of sorrows’ b.22-23), awkward intervals (1st violins b.22), dramatic silence b.66

Handel’s Messiah No.25

‘And with his stripes’ 1st subject features agonised dim 7th leap of ‘his stripes’ which makes it easily identifiable to the listener

Handel’s Messiah No.48

‘The Trumpet Shall Sound’ obbligato trumpet with space left to hear soloist (contrasts Bach Erbarme Dich continuous obbligato)

Carissimi ‘Jephte’

date

1645

Carissimi ‘Jephte’

instrumentation

Six voices and continuo, soloists and chorus SSSATB

Carissimi ‘Jephte’

monody example

alto opening ‘cum vocasset in proelium’

Carissimi ‘Jephte’

word painting

‘Fugite, fugite, cedite, cedite impii’ fleeing shown through fast-rising scale

Carissimi ‘Jephte’

harmony reflects mood

‘Heu, heu mihi filia mea, hui!’ features chromaticism and dissonance to reflect Jephte’s lament

what was great about verse anthems?

they suited the smaller acoustics of court chapels like Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Palace

what was St Mark’s Basillica famous for? also another two facts

cori spezzati, composers travelled all over Europe to hear music there, introduced instruments, especially wind, into church music

how was St Peter’s different to St Mark’s?

very few instruments used, mainly prima prattica, influenced by music of Palestrina

prima prattica

Polyphonic, controlled dissonance only, modal effects, avoids lavish ornamentation, acapella, music dominates the text

seconda prattica (main ones)

text dominates music, bolder use of harmony, word painting, dotted rhythms, syncopation, more elaborate writing for solo voices

Louis XIV power

wanted to undermine influence of Italian music, expanding French political and economic supremacy into the arts

France saw ___

dance as the epitome of aristocratic art

Rameau was ___

one of the first French musicians to become famous all across Europe